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-page 19,114, 596. The time of the Nayachakra is accepted by Sriman Jambuvijayji in tradition-vi. 484. The preamble of the Nayachakra is on page 23, introduction on page 60. If the self-knowledge commentary is set aside, then among the direct commentaries available on the Tattvarthasutra, Acharya Pujyapad's Sarvarthasiddhi is the oldest. Scholars have determined that Pujyapad's time was in the 5th-6th century of Vikram. Therefore, it can be said that the author of the sutras, Venerable Umaswati, existed at some time before the 5th century of Vikram.
According to this line of thought, the earliest time for Venerable Umaswati is fixed in the first century of Vikram, and the latest time is determined to be in the 3rd-4th century. The task of determining Umaswati's exact time remains to be researched within these three to four hundred years.
3. There are some special points in this temporal hypothesis which will be useful in future research as well, derived from comparing their Tattvarthasutra and commentary with other philosophies and Jain Agamas. These are also presented here. It is not that these points are directly helpful in precisely determining the time, but if solid evidence is found, there is no doubt about the significant utility of these points. At this time, these points also lead us towards the estimated time of Umaswati as mentioned above.
(a) It is likely that the Jain Agama 'Uttaradhyayan' should precede the sutras of Kanada, based on traditional perspective and other views. The sutras of Kanada are generally considered to belong to the first century BCE. In the Tattvarthasutra, composed on the basis of Jain Agamas, there are three sections that show resemblance to the sutras of Kanada, apart from being shadowed by Uttaradhyayan. These three sutras are related to the characteristics of the first, the substance, the second, the quality, and the third, the time.
In the sixth verse of the 28th study of Uttaradhyayan, the definition of substance is stated, "Gunāṇamāso davvaṃ" (i.e., the substance that is the basis of qualities, that is all). Kanada, in his definition of substance, includes activity and inherency along with quality, stating, "Kriyāguṇavat samavāyikāraṇamiti dravyalakṣaṇam" (1.1.15). That is to say, that which has activity, quality, and inherency is substance.